Tottenham Hotspur are set to be without Jan Vertonghen for some time after Mauricio Pochettino described the defender’s ankle injury as looking “very bad” – so we will look at the options available to replace him.

The Belgian defender rolled his ankle in front of the dugouts during the 4-0 victory against West Brom and was left shouting in pain as physios worked on it beside the pitch. He was eventually helped down the tunnel and was replaced by substitute Ben Davies.

With the next match a big one at Manchester City on Saturday, here are the options available to Pochettino.

1) Change the formation to a flat back four

Spurs have had tremendous success with a back three in recent weeks, getting as much joy and goals from it as Chelsea have had with Antonio Conte’s version of the formation.

The full-backs and creative players have excelled within the new system, so it is unlikely that Pochettino will revert to the back four which rarely looked as impressive.

He will be mindful that his side beat Manchester City earlier in the season with a traditional defence, but the need to not tinker with something that isn’t broken will likely come to the fore.

2) Use Ben Davies as the left-sided centre-back

Ben Davies has played the left-sided centre-back role for Wales

Davies was the choice to replace Vertonghen against West Brom because Pochettino had no other centre-backs on his bench.

The 23-year-old Welsh left-back is comfortable on the left of a back three, having played there for Wales regularly and at the summer’s European Championships as they reached the semi-finals, but it is highly unlikely to be him who plays there against City next weekend.

That was the first time he had played in the role for Spurs and it would leave the team vulnerable on his side in the air.

3) Hand Cameron Carter-Vickers his Premier League debut and reshuffle the back three

Carter-Vickers has impressed in cup competitions

Pochettino once labelled the big teenage USA youth international as having the potential to become the “best defender in England”.

The 19-year-old has impressed in the domestic cup competitions but this opportunity has probably come a little too soon in his development.

He is also predominantly a right-sided central defender which would necessitate a reshuffle of the settled back three and Pochettino is unlikely to want to move either Eric Dier or Toby Alderweireld when they have been playing so well in their positions.

4) Bring Kevin Wimmer back into the fold

Safe option? Wimmer has performed well in big games

The left-sided Wimmer has been used sparingly by Pochettino this season, but he has trusted him in big games at Arsenal and Chelsea and the Austrian has shown himself to be comfortable on the left of a defensive trio, particularly in the victory at Watford recently.

Wimmer’s impressive displays last season in Vertonghen’s absence have also not been forgotten by his manager.

Spurs will miss Vertonghen’s ability to bring the ball out of defence and link up with the attack and he was doing that to great effect against the Baggies before his injury.

However, in Wimmer, Pochettino knows he has a safe pair of hands to help the side carry on the momentum of recent weeks.